1. Technical Field
This invention relates to toothbrushes that are used to clean the teeth of humans by repetitive scrubbing of the teeth and tongue scrapers that are used to scrap the upper surface of a human's tongue for increased oral hygiene.
2. Description of Prior Art
Prior art devices of this type are directed towards toothbrushes and tongue scrapers that have improved cleaning operation to allow for better brush cleaning and improved performance during use, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 2,438,268 and D282,318 for toothbrush configurations.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,438,268 is directed to a flexible bristle head toothbrush wherein a plurality of independent brush bristle support sections are secured together in parallel spaced relation to one another by a flexible connector element that extends through oppositely disposed portions of each section and attaches to a handle.
In Design patent D282,318 a toothbrush head design is disclosed wherein a brush head has a single large opening therein surrounded by a plurality of bristles extending therefrom.
Examples of prior art patents having combined brush and tongue scraping elements can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,758,380, 5,842,247, 6,273,719, D283,952 and D377,417.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,380 a toothbrush is disclosed having a U-shaped scraper on the back of a bristle brush head.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,247 a tongue cleaning brush with a toothbrush is shown.
In Pat. No. 6,273,719 an oral hygiene implement is illustrating having a brush on one end and a loop on the other end which acts as a tongue scraper.
In Design patent 283,952 a combined toothbrush and tongue scraper is illustrated and in Design patent 377,417 a toothbrush is shown on one end of a handle and a tongue scraper on the other.
Applicant's own U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,036 discloses a self-cleaning toothbrush on which the present invention is an improvement with the addition of an integral tongue scraper and improved bristle position and cleaning element pass through configurations.